EU breaks its own rules to funnel money into Irish referendum

The European Commission seems to have been pouring money into the Irish referendum in contravention of its own rules. Nothing new here, of course. The EU rarely lets the letter of the law stand in the way of what it wants. If it did, Ireland wouldn't be having this referendum: Brussels would have accepted the result of the first one. Come to that, Ireland wouldn't have had the first one, as Brussels would have accepted the French and Dutch "No" votes.

Still, if I were Irish, I'd be asking myself why Eurocrats want this thing so badly. One of the reasons that the EU tends to lose referendums is that, when voters see their political and business leaders lining up with Brussels officials, they suspect a plot against the common man. They wonder whether their politicians are acting from patriotism or from self-interest. (In this case, it's a perfectly reasonable thing to wonder: since a "No" vote would force Brian Cowen's government to resign, ministers can hardly afford to take a disinterested view of the treaty.)

Pro-Treaty Forces have brilliantly anticipated this line of attack by turning the unpopularity of politicians in general – and Fianna Fáil in particular – into an argument in favour of European integration. "Look at the mess these gobdaws have made of things," runs their subtext. "Sure the Eurocrats couldn't do any worse". Oh yes they could, my friends. Oh, yes they could.